Assad-era interrogator sentenced to 26 years in Dutch court for torture

A Dutch court sentenced a 58-year-old Syrian man to 26 years in prison for torture and other abuses committed while serving as an interrogator for a pro-Assad militia in Syria, broadcaster NOS reported on Monday.

The District Court in The Hague found Rafik al-Q., who has been living in the Dutch town of Druten since 2022, guilty of 19 international crimes committed against eight victims in and around the city of Salamiyah in central Syria in 2013 and 2014.

According to the ruling, al-Q. held a senior position in a militia affiliated with the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and was involved in running detention facilities where prisoners were subjected to severe mistreatment, assault and torture.

The court found him guilty of 19 international crimes committed against eight people, including rape.

Victims who testified during the proceedings described being beaten with various objects, kicked, subjected to electric shocks and suspended upside down.

They said detainees were often stripped naked during the abuse.

Among the witnesses were two women, one of whom testified that she had been raped and sexually assaulted.

"Time and again, the defendant created conditions of mortal fear, threat, pain, hopelessness, and powerlessness," the court said in its judgment, adding that he had "dehumanized the victims and humiliated them to the deepest degree."